This invention relates in general to a method and an apparatus for positioning articles, such as electrical and electronic components for example, relative to a carrier so that they can be laid down or mounted and attached at predetermined locations on the carrier, and it is particularly applicable to automatic machines for fitting electrical or electronic components which are used in the electronics industry, in watch and clock making, and in general in other technical fields where articles need to be laid down and attached automatically or semi-automatically with a high degree of accuracy at predetermined locations on a carrier of any kind.
The invention is applicable in particular to the mounting and attachment of electronic components, such as integrated circuits, which may or may not be enclosed in housings and which have a number of output conductors along one or more of their sides. The size of these components is generally very small, being of the order of a few millimeters, and it is therefore necessary, when they are laid down on and connected to a printed circuit board for example, that this be done with great accuracy.